It was a sunny morning, the rays of the sun illuminated the face of a young man with black hair. Still being half asleep, the boy began to open his eyes little by little, after a few seconds processing his awakening, he decided to get out of his bed, took his glasses and began to dress.

- "Monday Again... ugh, I'm so thrilled about it" affirmed the teen with such a fake happy tone, while he was putting on his school uniform's trousers.

Only the thought of having to be in that place, made him feel weak. He knew that in that place, the price he had to pay for being who he was, was loneliness, grief, and humiliation, but despite all that, he kept going, because it was something he needed to face. after a few minutes, and completely dressed and arranged, he took his backpack to go to school.

- "I'm going" said the young man before leaving the house, not even waiting for a response he knew would never come, the reason... He was alone.

1 hour later.

It was already 10 minutes before classes started. The young man with glasses walked slowly down the halls of the school towards his classroom. Everything was so noisy, so annoying... Students running from one side to the other, some laughing, others screaming, gossiping, but certainly the most annoying thing, some were mocking others. It was a daily thing for the young man, to heard and notice how the other students interacted with each other, from fake smiles to hurtful comments, this was the way of teenagers and humans in general, it wasn't all just that though, he knew and saw others who were helpful, filled with joy and motivated, friendly people who walked side by side their peers, yet, he couldn't really get to be on either side, not very good at dealing with other humans, even the friendly ones weren't exactly very fond of him, while the other ones... he wasn't exactly in good terms with them due to him not liking their attitude, especially when he, himself, has been also the focus of mockery from some of the people around him.

- "fuuu... how does the song say?... hmm... I walk a lonely road, isn't?..." said the boy with a deep sigh coming out of his mouth.

He was already outside his classroom, ready to go in and spend another day around his classmates, but, when he was about to enter, he receives a kick in the back, making him fall to the ground.

- "Hahahaha... so early and you're already dirtying the floor, why don't you get up, "stray dog"? or maybe you're too afraid to get up".

The people around, instead of helping him, just laughed at the sight of him hitting the floor by "the boss" of the school bullies. A guy mocked him, as usual, calling him "stray dog", a nickname that was given to him so many years ago already, but that did not matter, he was used to it by now, so he was very unfazed by the act. he knew that his real name was "Feran", the name he received from his beloved grandfather.

With his head up, the young man rose from the ground, then looked for a few seconds to the shorter boy who had kicked him, the little "Ryu", and once again tried to enter the room, but... Just as he was opening the classroom door, he received a powerful blow from the biggest and most muscular of the bullies, "Tora", because of this he was sent flying a few meters across the hall and dropped his glasses.

- "Hahaha, seriously? did you think that we would let you in so easy? you're just garbage that nobody wants, so why don't you just go away instead" spoke Ryu again while the others only continued to laugh.

- "Come on, it's not his fault to be so unwanted, it's just...Unfortunate" said the black-green haired bully, "Hayato", talking to Ryu, as he watched Feran looking for his glasses.

- "You are too soft sometimes, the truth is that someone as pitiful as he shouldn't even be here, I suppose that the old man of his grandfather was lucky to die before seeing his grandson turned into this disaster" by Just saying that, Ryu gets a hit on the face, to everyone's surprise.

Hayato was shocked to see his friend falling back by the blow of the "stray dog", that guy has done the only thing that could destroy the little calm that Feran had, he dared to speak of his grandfather, mocking his death. Feran eyes blazed in flames, and he had a look of fury, his veins were marked on his neck and forehead, and his teeth gnashed, he clenched his fist so hard that even got some blood.

An uncommon image for most students, but not so unknown to the bullies. Hayato recognized that reaction from Feran, he had that same reaction a few days ago in the schoolyard when they annoyed him, the same thing happened, when they talked about his grandfather, this one got angry, and before they could fight, the professors came to stop the fight.

Only a few seconds after receiving the punch had passed and Ryu recovered, wiped his face with his sleeve and noticed that he had some blood on his lips, there was silence in the hallway, a silence of those who had never seen in schools, this was because the boss of the bullies was angry, and for the first time, "stray dog" was angry. they only looked angrily at each other for a few seconds and then both approached carefully to the other, being face to face for just a few centimeters apart, both attacked at the same time but ended up blocking each other hits, and then just ended up colliding their foreheads hard.

- "How dare you?... how dare you to make me bleed?" Said the shorter boy angrily, now just wanting to kill the person in front of him, yet the anger moment was reciprocated.

- "take it... back... take it back!" said Feran while clenching his teeth and pushing Ryu with all his might. The other students only could watch how the anger of both students seemed to grow each passing second.

- "... what the fuck?" said Ryu out loud due to the confusion of what was happening, he couldn't understand how a "wimp" was making him give a step back.

- "you said my grandfather was lucky to die... take that back! or I'll make you" Suddenly, with tears in his eyes, he gave a very strong cry surprising everyone around, then he moved his head back just to take momentum and then gave Ryu a headbutt on his forehead, making him recoil.

Just as Feran was about to throw another punch at Ryu, "Uriel" who heard the scream outside the classroom, left the room and stopped Feran's arm.

Surprised to see who stopped him, she, the only one that he believed to be different, the only one who hasn't been mean to him and who has never rejected him, but at the same time the same woman that would confuse him, the girl he thought he was in love with.

She left the room without knowing what to expect, just to meet the quietest person she has ever known, the one who never hurts anyone, he was being held by her, with a bleeding hand, her eyes full of tears, she only could worry at the sight.

They met a few years ago, she knew all about his grandfather and how other kids bullied him, but she had never seen him like this, although she imagined that someday he could not bear it anymore, she did not expect to find him this furious, sad, on the brink of an abyss of which he may never be able to return.

- "Oh my god, are you alright?" she asked him while grabbing his face and getting him closer to her so she could inspect him. unknown to the girl, her actions only made him nervous, not used to being touched by other people, unless it was for violent purposes, Feran swallowed loudly and moved his hands, grabbing the arms of the girl carefully, and slowly moving away from her hold, all that without breaking eye contact.

While looking at each other, it seemed as if they had spent several minutes, but in reality, it was only a few seconds that had passed, which for the unlucky Feran, give time to his bullies to get out of the shock of the previous events and act. He didn't even have time to react when he felt another hit.

- "you piece of shit!" he heard before receiving a punch from Hayato, and then a quick kick from Tora, the young man flew out, while Uriel looked at him with surprise and concern.

- "Nobody... hits... my brother..." said the big guy with anger in his voice and a scowl on his face. Hayato and Tora prepared themselves to go again against Feran, however, they were stopped by a pissed off Uriel, who stood just in between the bullies and in front of Feran.

- "Get out of the way, that damned bastard hit Ryu, so now, we will beat him up" Hayato indicated while pointing a finger to Feran, but his words only annoyed Uriel even more.

- "Are you serious? you know very well that Ryu began to bother him, you always do it, and let me tell you something, if you all are really willing to fight, then you must be willing to receive hits too, that's how the real world and a real fight works" said the girl with such a serious and defying expression.

Hayato was very angry, yet he wasn't as violent as Ryu or Tora, besides, Uriel was certainly someone he wouldn't want to hit, even so, he was having a hard time calming down, so when he was about to speak, suddenly he felt a hand grabbing his neck from behind.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

- "If you dare to put even one finger on Uriel, I will break your neck" the voice that came from behind belonged to "Trish", she was Uriel's best friend, and at the moment she seemed very angry.

For everyone it was normal to see Trish happy, she was like that, especially with her friends, she could be serious when needed, but usually she would just be smiling and having a good time with her friends, that is, of course, as long as no one messed with her friends, especially Uriel. Everyone knew that if it was strength, Trish was without a doubt a very strong woman with a terrible temperament when it came to rule-breaking or mocking her friends, especially when it came to Uriel, she is a member of the Discipline Committee and also practiced fights with his father, who is a policeman, she trains and self-discipline herself with the desire to protect and help her best friend, that kind of girl was Trish, not even Hayato would dare to try to fight with her, not like he wanted to anyway, however, Tora was different.

Without someone noticing Tora, he throws a blow to the back of Trish, but the hit was easily blocked by Ryu.

- "Calm down Tora, you should not attack a woman, not even we are that level of trashes..." said Ryu with a smile after having some time to recover, then he simply walks separating Trish from Hayato and approaching Uriel.

- "I'll never understand why you keep defending the "stray dog", However, I must clarify that I'm not a coward who can't keep up with a fight or that need help in a 1 on 1, and this fight is mine and mine alone, so if its fairer to you, we will fight after school, just he and I" Ryu indicated while he was in front of Uriel, but he watched Feran who was just now standing up.

- "... Fuuu... alright! seriously though, I will never understand the need of people to hurt others, just because they are different, or because of their living conditions... there are things that we simply do not choose, like the people who have conceived us, or the situations in which we find ourselves, everyone tries to give the best of themselves to enjoy their lives, but then there are some people that always seem to seek to crush the ones who seem the most vulnerable. Ryu, you are strong, that's why you should protect others, instead of hurting them" Uriel state in a calm voice, but at the same time firm on her words, it was something that she truly believed, Ryu observed her only for a few seconds before sighing and heading into the classroom.

- "I don't have time to worry about others, nor am I good enough to help others, I simply love to fight, I don't care how strong or weak my enemy is, I will confront them all, and that includes him, and this will continue until he can stop me... if he even dares to" Ryu said severely while in front of the door.

- "I don't care about that..." the voice of Feran came to the ears of the people present in the hall, he was already standing, while putting his glasses on, and he looked dead serious, not looking at anyone else than Ryu.

- "what?" asked Ryu with some confusion but an irritated tone.

- "I don't care about you or anyone else mocking me, I'm used to that anyway, and I consider it nothing more than a little nuisance made by the tantrum of a cocky brat, so no, I don't care about that... what I care about is that you dared to talk about my grandfather, no one can talk lightly of him, especially on my presence" Feran walked once again closer to Ryu, both staring at each other with defiance. Hayato and Tora were about to give a step forward when the hand of Ryu stopped them, and he looked at them and then back at Feran with a smile.

- "don't worry about the death ones, they are already gone and don't care about our "tantrum", worry about the living, those are the ones that are suffering or will make you suffer... don't be stupid, "stray dog", until you step up and face the ones that mess with you, you won't be able to live in peace" finally Ryu stated with a cocky smile before getting inside the classroom closely followed by his friends Hayato and Tora. Feran stayed standing there a few seconds before Uriel touch him on the shoulder.

- "are you okay?".

- "yes... thank you for stopping me previously..." once he said that, he carefully took her hand off his shoulder, feeling too much contact, he gave her a little sad smile and enters the room.

- "Fuuu... why don't you just let us in?" asked the girl more to herself than anyone else, she was worried about the boy and her thoughts couldn't stop going on that direction.

- "don't worry, he will get out of his shell, eventually... I hope so... let's head to class" said Trish at first with a little sad smile, that quickly changes to a full-on smile, she then side hugged her friend, and with a little smile of Uriel, both also enter the classroom.

A few hours later.

A few hours had passed since the classes began and now it was lunchtime, because of it the students had spread through the school. Ryu and his friends were quietly eating in a corner of the roof.

- "Do you really plan to fight that guy once classes are over?" Hayato asked quietly looking at his friend.

- "That's right, I just have to wait a few more hours, Uriel can't scold me for fighting him out of school hours, after all, I told him head-on in the morning, now I can't step back on my word" he replied.

- "I see, I guess it's normal to be so patient when the girl you like scolds you for fighting, isn't it?" Hayato indicated with a smile, on his side, Ryu was surprised for a moment, his face got red, and he began to move his head nervously.

- "How is it that you know that I... Wait, I do not like Uriel, I just do not want to have to argue with her, and less for such a little thing as that guy, so don't talk nonsense" Ryu refused nervously, although it was very obvious that he really felt something for the redhead.

His 2 friends could not help laughing slightly when they saw the attitude of their "leader". After a few seconds of eating and chatting, 2 shadows approached them.

- "you seem to be having a fun time here, let us join you" were the words of a tall brown-skinned guy, who was behind a handsome young blonde of standard height.

The young people who were having lunch, observed with a serious expression to the two students who had just arrived, "Markus" and "Alexander", they were definitely not the kind of people Ryu and his friends wanted as enemies, but also they don't want them as friends.

- "Leave the stupid act of politeness, what do you want?" as he listened to Ryu's words, Markus's expression changed to one of irritation, Alexander on his part simply gave a slight glimpse to the people in front of him without changing his expression.

- "I heard you will participate in a fight at the end of the classes" indicated Alexander with a bored tone. Ryu just lifted an eyebrow as a reaction.

- "So? what are you going to do if it is true?" said the young man in a defiant tone, at that reply, Markus stepped forward while Alexander simply looked annoyed at the answer.

- "Be more respectful when speaking, little bully. We hear you'll have a fight against Feran at the end of the school day, and we are here just to warn you, don't you dare to lose, it wouldn't be good for you to lose".

- "Tch, you are not our bosses or something like that, so don't come to threaten me... Besides, there's no way I'm losing to that guy" Ryu said with obvious annoyance as he clenched his teeth tightly.

- "I will remind you that you can do whatever you want in this place just because I allow it, so don't be so arrogant, as for Feran, give him a beating, if he ends up in the hospital I don't care, we'll cover you so you don't get expelled" those were Alexander word before turning around and walking away. During the whole exchange Hayato and Tora had remained silent, however, they didn't like the way Markus and Alexander acted with them, so that at the time when Alexander turns around, Tora tries to beat him, knowing that he could not defeat him face to face, however, before the hit connected, Markus hit Tora with much more speed and force knocking him down in one single blow.

- "Control your pet, Ryu" were Markus's last words with a mocking smile before walking following Alexander.

- "Tch... someday I'll kill those bastards" whispered Ryu with a vein marked in his head, while Hayato was next to his fallen friend, checking that he did not receive further damage, however, he also had a murderous look with which he sent glances to the retreating figures of Markus and Alexander.

While Alexander and Ryu were on the roof, Feran was quietly on his desk trying to sleep and have a moment of peace. Feran, of course, was not the only one in the classroom, because in the place were also other students, including 4 ladies who were having a cheerful talk.

- "I still can't believe you had to stop those fools, fuuu..." said Trish with a sigh. Next to her were two young ladies, one had long black hair, a serious look, and was just a little shorter than Trish, her name was Seiras.

- "I don't like bullies, good thing that we have Alexander to help, not long ago I heard that he would talk to the boys" a young girl stated, she had short pink hair, and a nice smile, her name was Julienne but was better known as Julie.

Uriel, meanwhile, was in her seat without much interest in the conversation, she only read a book quietly, suddenly looking to the side and seeing the figure of Feran lying on his desk, she couldn't help to smile, Feran felt someone watching him and raised his head, he noticed the smiling figure of Uriel, which made him somewhat nervous.

- "Are you enjoying the book?" he asked at the sight of the book he had lent to the young woman a few days ago, this was one of his grandfather's books that he had not even read yet.

- "Yes, I have enjoyed it so far, although the title is still somewhat weird... "The Forgotten Shield"... The author was certainly not very thoughtful for the title of his book" said The Girl with a smile, which also made Feran smile at her while both looked at each other.

Trish just watched Feran and Uriel smiling and not looking away. Before anything else could be done or said,

Suddenly, they heard a lot of noise coming from the outside, which draws the attention of the people inside the room to the window. By looking out of the window they managed to see how a strange energy emerged from the ground to the sky like a huge pillar, the earth begins to tremble more and more strongly, Uriel rushes to leave the room and go to the yard where everything was happening, her friends and Feran followed her after a few seconds.

- "What the hell is going on here?" Ryu was stunned, he did not understand what was happening, only knew that a kind of giant "door" was in the yard.

- "What should we do?" asked Hayato, however, Ryu didn't know what to answer.

In the meantime, Markus and Alexander were already in the yard, keeping a calm demeanor even in the face of this surprising situation.

- "I wonder what that giant door will be..." Markus thought aloud.

- "I don't know, but I think we're about to find out" Alexander looked to the side and saw how Uriel hurried to approach the door followed by her friends, while Feran was behind the crowd watching the door.

The door suddenly begins to open slowly, a blinding glow came out of the door, it was so brilliant that several students had to cover their eyes, in that, Feran realizes, that his body begins to shine, he's surprised but doesn't say anything, just watching his hands, and after a few seconds he begins to observe the other students and notices something, no one else is shining, just him, or so he thought for a moment, suddenly another glow appeared in the crowd, and another light, more lights began to appear that came from other students, and when he looked up to the school's ceiling, 3 more lights were there. A total of 10 lights counting himself, once he realizes this, a blinding light illuminates all that can be seen, a light that lasts several seconds, before becoming deep darkness.